Okay then, citation needed for that first. I happen to know for a fact that MMO's are very expensive investments, so I'd like to see the reports you're reading on their distribution of finances just so I can see where you're coming from with this argument and try to understand your position. Also, I don't recall Blizzard claiming to struggle finding developers. I actually find it hard to imagine that they don't have a hard drive full of resumés that just keeps filling as time goes on given that the job of game dev is a pretty competitive position.

It's all in their financial statements, Product development 2011: 646 million, 2010: 635 million, 2009: 627 million, Subscription, licensing, and other revenues 2011: 1,498 million, 2010: 1,360 million 2009: 1,199 million, note that I seen these numbers for WoW specifically in other reports than the one I'm looking at now (could be in this as well I'm not making a huge effort here) and it's not much difference when removing licensing and other revenue.

As for the difficulties finding devs it's been stated by blue posters in responds to throwing more developers at the problem on multiple occasions, Blizzard claims it's hard to find the right skill sets in a person that fits their corporate culture, something that to be blunt is horse shit as they had almost a decade to deal with that issue.

Originally Posted by Benggaul

For your second point: No, we wouldn't. If WoW's dev team had not had the deep resources it had thanks to the early popularity and skyrocketing subscriptions it would absolutely have changed what WoW was today. WoW is an absolutely massive and content-rich game, a lot of which wouldn't have happened without the subs bankrolling it. Now, if you want to argue that it would have been a better game then I can not say you're wrong because that's based on a wholly subjective opinion. (I'd still disagree, however.)

Yet we didn't have the Blizzard store until, what was it, late Wrath or early Cata and still got the same level of development, so yes, we would have got the same game as it is still so profitable that they couldn't afford to scale down on development.

Originally Posted by Benggaul

And as for your casual dismissal of the "but they are a business" arguments...they aren't wrong. You will not find a single MMO out there whose developers aren't looking for more methods to monetize whatever they can get away with. The latest trend is, of course, "Free to play" with microtransactions aplenty, but lately those microtransactions have been set up to be more and more--well, not necessary, but at least strongly recommended. Take the recent uproar over the SWTOR F2P model, for example, where they initially wanted people to pay to unlock an extra action bar...

They obviously can and will try to do this, that's not really my issue, that the customer falls in to the trap and the dangerous road it leads down is my concern, especially when it's defended with "But it's just..." and "But they are a business".

Originally Posted by Benggaul

Okay, and now that you've said you haven't "payed" [sic] for years now, I understand a little more why you honestly don't get why I don't feel the development time they spent on a single mount is significant compared to what they've put into the base game subscription. If you haven't played, and you're getting all of your information solely from these forums and news posts, then you honestly have an uninformed opinion. Noted! I'll stop paying attention to it, then.

Never said I didn't play, I said I didn't pay, I played the free week here and there to see how the game changed, I also have several friends that still play and keep me reasonably up to date, surely enough to have an opinion on the business praxis and it's effects on WoW and gaming as a whole.

I think I post this most times a new mount comes out. Are you seriously complaining about a business making a profit from something that is incredibly successful? Do you complain when you pay too much for drinks on a night out, for cigarettes, for dinner at a restaurant?

HUEHUEHUEHUEH

Horrible analogy that doesn't work, and do you know why? I'm not paying $25 extra for ice, when I already paid for my beverage.

To clarify though so it just doesn't seem like I'm laughing at you and that alone, I'm not complaining at all. I don't care what some guy with disposable income, or some idiot with no grasp on his money, spends $25 on. I'm just musing on the fact a subscription MMO can run a cash shop with ludicrous prices, and the majority doesn't feel that such a thing is a little bit over the top for a game that already takes your $15 a month, and $25+ if you so choose to take a transfer/race change/etc.

So again. Not complaining, just saying that this is extraordinarily greedy. Is it right or wrong? That is for the individual to judge, but it is greedy. Doesn't change how such avarice is a smart business maneuver.

I have the mount and I like it. Funny how people shoot Blizzard down for reusing mount skins, as soon as they dare to do something different (this mount and the dinosaurs) they get even more QQ. Buy it, don;t buy it, just shut up nobody wants your hate fueled opinion

It is silly to take a position of superiority for not being a "sucker" and buying this. It's a product. You want it or you don't. Your position on the matter is not a reflection of your intelligence or your value as a human being.

Is this Rudolph on Crack!?! I like it, only to point and laugh at people who buy this. At least with Celestial Steed, the blizz store made it look so much more cooler than what it actually was lol. This though, hides NOTHING LOL

I will continue to /lol at the ones dumb enough to buy it. And to those saying it's not paying for an advantage, you might want to check if there are any achievements or rewards for mount collecting. They should not allow these pay mounts to be counted. I wonder how long it will take for them to realize they can start charging extra for things like hiding your helmet. Swtor charges you so why not. The fanboys would come in here and defend it like always. So pathetic.

Like many others it seems, I too am annoyed at having to pay real money for items when I already pay sub, especially for the price Blizzard changes! 20 Euro for a mount, 25 euro for a faction change, etc. I understand that Free to Play games need to do this stuff to make money, but for WoW we pay a subscription and all the mounts, pets etc should just be available in game I think.

From Blizzard's perspective though, they just want more and more money, thats all they care about, so they will just milk this cashcow as long as people keep paying for these things. Thats the way the world is nowdays, most companies would screw you for every penny you have if they could, welcome to the money obsessed world.

To anyone complaining about having to pay for this mount: Is it vital to have this mount in order to play the game?

If one of their major enjoyments in game is mount collecting and not raiding then I'd say yes, who are you to decide what's important to other players and in extension to that who needs to pay extra for what they enjoy?

If this instead had been an optional raid I'm quite sure we wouldn't have this argument.